The Story of Surnames and Geneaology

THE STORY OF

SURNAMES

BY

WILLIAM DODGSON BOWMAN

First published, February 1931

PREFACE

THE Story of Surnames is part of the history of Medieval times. It is one that makes clear, points that would otherwise be doubtful or obscure.

This popular account of surnames could not have been written if the results of the researches of Canon Bardsley, Mr. Henry Harrison and Professor Weekley had not been available and to these and others the author tenders his acknowledgments. Professor Weekley’s Romance of Names and Surnames and Mr. Harrison’s Dictionary of Surnames and Skeat’s Concise Etymological Dictionary have proved invaluable in settling knotty points.

Among other books consulted are Bardsley, English Surnames (1901); Bardsley, Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (Oxford, 1901); Guppy, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain (1890); Searle, Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum (Cambridge, 1897); Hundred Rolls, 1273; 1275-1377 The Letter Books (A to F) of the City of London; London Directory; and for American Surnames, the Directories of the Cities of New York and Chicago, and The American Language, by H. L. Mencken.

WILLIAM DODGSON BOWMAN.

CONTENTS

THE STORY OF SURNAMES

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

It was fashionable for the Clergy (especially if Regulars, Monks, or Friars) to have their Surnames (for Syr-names they were not) or upper names, because superadded to those given at the Font, from the places of their Nativity . . . Hence it is that in such cases we seldome charge our margin with other Authors, their Sirname being Author enough to avow their births therein.—T. FULLER, Worthies of England.

PHILOLOGISTS have been so preoccupied with other tasks in recent years, and have had so many urgent problems to solve, that it is not surprising that but few of them have done little more than take a peep into those ancient Rolls and Lists where so much ore rich in precious metal lies buried.

The story of surnames is of extraordinary fascination, for it is one in which everybody has a proprietary interest. Verstegan and Camden three centuries ago showed its importance and value, but strangely enough, it was not till the middle of the last century when Trench’s Study of Words aroused popular interest in etymology, that surnames and their origin received any consideration. Thereafter came books and articles on the subject in sufficient number to satisfy the most voracious reader, and wild enough in their conjectures and inferences to rouse the scepticism of the most credulous. But the people of that pre-scientific age were of simple faith, and as Mr. Edwin Thomas says, were of those who made England great, fearing neither man, nor God, nor philology.

Some of their etymologies have at least the merit of being amusing. From an issue of an influential Daily, published some forty years ago, we get that story of Mary Queen of Scots, who after being unwell at sea, tasted some marmalade for the first time and enjoyed it. After this we are gravely informed the conserve was called Marie malade.

The process by which a man called Anson came to be called Pawsoffski is equally ingenious. Anson equals Hands on, which means Paws on. From Paws on we get Paws off and thence Pawsoffski.

If not so ludicrous many of the guesses of Lower and Ferguson, who also wrote books on English surnames, were equally inaccurate. Ferguson reversed the method used by the scientific investigator. Instead of first collecting his facts, and then generalising from them, he started off with a definite theory and sought data to support it. If the facts did not square with his preconceived idea he either ignored them or explained that fuller information on the matter had yet to turn up.

When in 1873 Canon Bardsley’s English Surnames was published, the era of guessing and ingenious theorising came to an end. For Bardsley’s work was the result of many years of patient investigation. He collected an astonishing mass of documentary evidence, not only from the early rolls, but from Church registers of a later date. His Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames published in 1901 after his death contains a vast store of information invaluable to philologists. There are many inaccuracies in this but it should be remembered by the critical that Bardsley was a pioneer investigator; and that the rough notes from which his Dictionary was compiled, were put into book form without revision.

Bardsley’s successor, Professor Weekley, is the greatest English authority on this branch of philology. He has raised it to the dignity of an exact science, and his brilliant works Romance of Names and Surnames make all students of philology eager to see that Dictionary of Surnames he has so long promised them.

From the study of surnames we learn much about the people of the Middle Ages, that would otherwise remain shadowy and obscure. Through it the revealing light of history is turned, not on the whims of monarchs and intrigues of statesmen, but on the intimate and personal affairs of our forefathers in by-gone centuries. It discloses their fears and superstitions, their loves and hates, their occupations and habits. It introduces us to a primitive society when men lived closer to nature, and maintained a hand to hand struggle with the beasts of the wild. We meet the spearman, the biller, the clayer, the fletcher, and a host of others whose callings are strange. But more important still, we pull aside the veil a little that hides the past and witness the fairs and festivals of these people of long ago, listen to their strange oaths and uncouth expressions, and discover their follies and frailties.

In order to understand how we got our Surnames it is necessary to consider the conditions prevailing in England after the Conquest. In the centuries following that event hordes of priests, traders and adventurers flocked to this country from France and the Low Countries. The feudal system established by the Normans profoundly changed social and economic conditions. The great estates were held by foreigners who despised the natives and their language. A third of the land was owned by the Church, and the religious houses which sprang up everywhere were peopled by French and Italian monks.

English speech was represented by many dialects, the chief of which were the Northern, used in Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire and the Lowlands of Scotland; the Midland spoken in East Anglia and in the Midlands as far south as the Thames; and the Southern dialect, the language of the people of Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and in all counties south of the Thames.

Though these dialects had much in common they were yet so different that even in Caxton’s time the Kentish man found it difficult to make himself understood by the Northumbrian. The coming of the Norman added to this babel-like confusion. The language of Court and the nobility was French. Boys in the grammar schools were taught Latin through the medium of French, which was also the language of the Courts of Justice and polite society. Until the fourteenth century it was the fashionable tongue and those who desired to stand well with the ruling powers, or were ambitious, took pains to learn and speak it. As John de Trevisa, a writer of the fourteenth century, quaintly says in his translation of Higden’s Polychronicon, uplondysche men wol lykne to gentile men fondeth with gret bysynes for to spake Freynsch for to be more ytold of.

In addition to French and the English dialects, Gaelic, Manx, Cornish, and Welsh, spoken in the outlying parts of the kingdom, added to the confusion. Instead of becoming a bi-lingual or tri-lingual nation, the English people clung obstinately to their mother speech, until finally French was banished as an alien tongue. But before this process was accomplished, a multitude of French words had been absorbed into the language, and through the same medium, many more of Scandinavian and Low Latin origin. From these various elements our nomenclature has been built up.

The custom of using surnames began in England after the Norman Conquest. This significant change was not brought about solely by the invasion, for it was a movement that was already spreading through the more populous countries of Europe. The rise of the large towns, and the growing populations in country districts made it increasingly difficult to identify an individual who bore only one name. When as often happened this individual bore a common name like John or Thomas, confusion arose and it had been found convenient to confer a nickname on him. A nickname is originally an eke name, or an additional name agnomen, that supplements the information given in the font-name. In this sense all surnames are nicknames.

For centuries before surnames were used to distinguish the individual and the family, nicknames proved a useful makeshift; and just as Early English kings were known as the Confessor and the Unready so their subjects were known as the Brave, the Strong, the Fair, or the Long. But these names were not permanent, and passed away with those that bore them. The practice extended as the need for unmistakable identification became more urgent. But at last pressure of circumstances prevailed and family names began to be adopted so that William atte Hill and his descendants became known first as atte Hill, and in the course of time simply Hill, and John a Guildford adopted the family name of Guildford.

Philologists have not been able to decide exactly when surnames were first adopted in England. Some maintain that the Saxons were the first to assume them. Searle in the introduction to his Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum (Cambridge, 1897) says that an attempt was made by Anglo-Saxons to make up for lack of surnames by giving children names in which the themes of the father’s names were found, and gives several instances in which this occurred. Amongst others he mentions Eormenred of Kent, whose children were called Eormenbeorh, Eormenburh, and Eormengyth.

Canon Taylor, whose views on this subject deserve consideration, says that in the south, surnames were to be found at the beginning of the twelfth century, and that in the northern counties they were not universal until the end of the fourteenth.

Camden in his Remaines Concerning Britaine, expresses his opinion on the subject in his usual downright fashion. About the yeare of our Lord 1000, he says, "surnames began to be taken up in France. But not in England till about the time of the Conquest, or else a little before, under King Edward the Confessor, who was all Frenchified. And to this time do the Scottish men also refer the antiquity of their surnames, although Buchanan supposed they were not in use in Scotland many years after. Yet in England certain it is that as the better sort, even from the Conquest by little and little took surnames, so they were not setled among the common people fully until about the time of King Edward II, but still used according to the father’s name. . . . So it seemed a disgrace for a gentleman to have but one single name, as the meaner sort and bastards had. For the daughter and heir of Fitz Hamon, a great Lard, when King Henry I would have married her to his base son, Robert, she first refusing, answered:

It were to me a great shame

To have a Lard withoutin his twa name.

Whereupon the King his father gave him the name of Fitz Roy who after was Earl of Gloucester, and the only worthy of his age in England."

In England the surname was as Sir T. Browne calls it a gentilitous appelation, and was assumed only by knights and landowners. Next the merchants and traders took them and finally the peasantry.

But in the north of England, Scotland and Ireland, the inhabitants did not take kindly to the new custom.

In his Special Report on Surnames in Ireland issued as a Blue Book in 1894 Sir Robert Matheson quotes a statute of 1366 which provided inter alia that English settlers in Ireland were to use only the English language and take English names.

According to the same authority, a law was passed in 1465 (5 Ed. IV, cap. 3) "that every Irishman that dwells betwixt or among English settlers in the County of Dublin, Myeth, Vriell and Kildare . . . shall take to him an English surname of one town, as Sutton, Chester, Trynn, Skryne, Corke, Kinsall; or colour, as white, black, brown; or arte or science, as smith or carpenter; or office as cooke, butler."

Here we have plain instructions from the legislators of the fifteenth century, as to the form surnames should take. They suggest local, occupative, and nicknames, but make no mention of patronymics.

In Wales hereditary surnames were not in use even among the gentry until the reign of Henry VIII and were not generally established until a much later period.

The Editor of Registra Antiqua de Llantillo, 1577-1644 says that between these dates surnames were just becoming general in Wales.

Even in England the change was only effected by slow degrees. The peasant of the Middle Ages, unlettered and ignorant, who owed his daily bread to the favour of his overlord, looked with dread and suspicion on new customs. A freeman only in name, he fought a daily battle with want, and was often vanquished and famished in the struggle, and the absorbing thought of that struggle stifled his ambition and destroyed his pride. Surnames, or as they were generally called sirnames, were for the knights and gentry who bore heraldic devices on their shields, and stamped documents with private seals, but not for him. His cousin in the large town had a happier lot, and enjoyed a fuller life. His liberties were assured by Royal Charter and he plied his craft peacefully, secure in the knowledge that his Guild would protect him from the wrong doer and marauder. Like his fellows he welcomed the new custom which facilitated intercourse, and stabilised his position as the head of a family.

The people in outlying districts still clung to the old habit of using only baptismal names centuries after surnames had been adopted in the towns. A record of the year 1444 shows the easy manner in which they were changed at that date. From this document we learn that in one family the elder brother took the local name of Asheby. His brother became Adam Wilson; and Adam Wilson’s son styled himself John Adkynson.

In Surtees’ Durham, Vol. 3, a document entitled De Tribus fratribus bondis de Chilton is quoted, in which there appear as sons and grandsons of Ydo Towter,—Nicholas Pudding, Richard Marshall or Diccon Smith, Jopson, and Rogerson.

In the Thoresby MSS. (circa 1704) we read:

"The ancient British way of using the father’s and grandfather’s christian name instead of the Nomina Gentilitia is not yet wholly laid aside in these parts of England (Yorkshire). A pious and ingenious person (my kinsman by marriage) was but the second of his family who had continued the same surname, which had till then been varied as the christian name of the father was, though they were persons of considerable estate. His grandfather Peter, being the son of William, was called Peter-Williamson; his father was called William Peterson, which continued till about 1670, when they assumed the surname of Peters.

A friend of mine in Halifax asking the name of a pretty boy that begged relief was answered: ‘William a Bills a Toms a Luke.’

The writer goes on to state that in the surrounding villages the people were still known by the places where they lived. Thus, when he inquired for Henry Cock-raft, he could hear of no such person though he was within two bow-shots of the house. But at length he found him under the name of Chaumer mon (chamber man). He then goes on to explain that chaumer mon is not to be taken for camerarius, but the inhabitant of the chambered house, then a rarity in country villages.

I. Surnames fall into four great classes. The largest of these comprises those taken from places of origin or present address as in de Leycestre which represents the modern names Leicester and Lester, or ate Hull for Hull or Hill. These are known as Local names.

II. The second class includes those derived from a father or ancestor, as in Wilson, the son of Wil or Johnson the son of John.

III. Names from the third class are from occupations or office, as in Smith, Wright, Chandler, Cook.

IV. The fourth class includes all nicknames. Of these there is an immense variety. Among them are names of birds, beasts, fishes, terms descriptive of personal attributes, as well as oaths and phrase names. Examples of these are Brown, Wolf, Finch, Pike, Goodspeed, and Pardow (from pardieu).

But there are many names that cannot be attributed to any one of the above classes. Some of these may be explained as from two or three different sources. Thus Martin, one of the commonest baptismal names used as a surname, is in some cases an animal nickname representing the marten. Lammas from a place name in Norfolk is also for Lammas, loaf mass, one of the feast days of the Church. March is a personal name from Mark; it is also a local name from the village March in Cambridge. It may also represent a dweller near a marsh. Tibbles represents Isabella as well as Theobald. Myer and Myers are occupative names from mire O.Fr. for a doctor. It is also local for atte mire. The name Four stands for the numeral, and also represents French four, an oven.

Few names are susceptible to more explanations of origin than the surname Bugle. It is undoubtedly a local name from a small village in the West Country. But it is also a nickname and represents the wild ox (Mid. Engl. bugle), and also the musical instrument so dear to the hearts of Boy Scouts. Skeat also explains bugle as from the French bugle, a plant. It is also a kind of pad for the hair (Low Latin, bugoli pl.).

Gold is a nickname, as well as an Anglo-Saxon personal name. Nelson is for the son of Neil, but also stands for the son of Nell (Ellen). One of King Arthur’s famous knights gives us the surname Kay, but we also get it from the more prosaic quay, a wharf which in Mid. English was Key and Kaye.

Badger is an occupative name, and according to Bailey stands for one that buys corn or other provisions in one place, in order to sell them in another. In other words a pedlar or huckster. But Badger is also an animal nickname, and indicates the popular name of the brock.

Seymour from St. Maur is a local name; but when representing seamer, the tailor, it is occupative. The word seamer has long passed out of use but the feminine forms, seamstress and sempstress, remain.

Parry has both French and Welsh origins. Benson is from Benjamin and Benedict. Tait is an Anglo-Saxon name. It also represents French Tête, a head. Ely stands for the cathedral city in the Fens; and also for the prophet Elias. Moss is a local name. It is also personal, from Moses. Cross is familiar as a local name, but sometimes it is also a nickname. Perry has at least three origins, one local and the others baptismal.

Through coming from diverse sources it is not difficult to understand why several of these names occur so frequently in Directories.

Conversely we find that many simple names appearing in the early records have developed many variations through eccentricities in spelling and dialectical usages. Thus from the Anglo-Saxon Eoforwine we have Irwin, Erwin, Urwin, and Everwin. For the grieve’s son there are Grayson, Grierson and other variations, found principally in Scotland and the north of England. Of some surnames the variations run to a dozen or more, while even in short and simple names we note such changes as Smith, Smithyes, Smythe; and Brown, Broun and Browne.

As surnames first came into fashion at a relatively late period in history documentary evidence of the earliest examples is abundant. Many of these records are of unimpeachable authority, and the greatest historical value. The most important are:

Domesday Book. William I must have had a kindly thought for